Our office closes Friday, December 22nd at 5 pm and re-opens Tuesday, January 2nd at 9 am.
Enjoy the holidays!

For our latest video series we're shining a spotlight on our line of next generation RF sensors: The Octiv™ Range. In July we launched Octiv 2.0: a significant upgrade to the Octiv™ product range which provides a major improvement in performance in non-50 ohm environments. To achieve this, the calibration method has been redesigned and improved. Therefore, it is classified as a new product and existing Octiv™ models will be phased out. Existing Octiv™ customers, with compatible models, will be automatically upgraded to Octiv™ 2.0 during the next scheduled calibration.

To celebrate this, Impedans TV has produced a series of videos covering the Octiv hardware, software and demonstrating its abilities in frequency agility, waveform reconstruction and pulsed profile. Check out the first installment below and find the following parts at Impedans TV.

The first in our case Study Series examines how Impedans RF and Mechanical design teams aided a NASDAQ 100 Technology company, who needed to improve the performance and extend the lifetime of an aging fleet of plasma etching tools. Through the integration of Impedans Octiv Sensing Platform, this long-time Impedans client was able to reduce production costs and increase product throughput dramatically, and thus make substantial savings, directly as a result.

Impedans are proud to introduce the Alfven | 100 RF Event Detector.

The Alfven | 100™ RF Event Detector is designed to monitor short-lived, unexpected events in RF and plasma processes, that can cause product scrappage and significant cost to the manufacturer.
Plasma processes, in semiconductor (and related industries), such as plasma etching, PVD and PECVD are susceptible to events such as arcs, instabilities and ignition phenomena. The Alfven | 100™ will detect these events and send real-time warnings to the operator to enable corrective action.

If you're attending the 60th Annual TechCon next week at at the Rhode Island Convention Center, don't miss the latest developments in Plasma Measurement from Impedans. Michelle and Chris will be in attendance on Tuesday and Wednesday and will be delighted to talk about any of your Plasma measurement needs.

Impedans founder presents at Plasma Supervision workshop.

Impedans founder and CEO, Mike Hopkins, is presenting a talk on VI Technology at the Plasma Supervision workshop during the (apc|m) Conference at the Gibson Hotel, Dublin on the 10th of April 2017. The European Advanced Process Control and Manufacturing (apc|m) Conference is directed to manufacturers, suppliers and scientific community of semiconductor, photovoltaic, LED, flat panel, MEMS, and other related industries. The topics are focused on current challenges and future needs of Advanced Process Control and Manufacturing Effectiveness.

Impedans are proud to support their female employees on International Women's Day and every other day..

IWD is a celebration of the achievements of women in all aspects of life. This day has been adopted to bring gender equality to the fore and to recognise the contribution of women in our society. There have been leaps and bounds but we're not there yet. Employers play a vital role in empowering women. At Impedans, flexible working hours are offered to their employees, helping working mums balance career and family goals. Getting the balance in teams is vital to the health of any organisation. #BeBoldForChange

Abstract

This technical note describes the uncertainty in measurements and standards of calibration for Octiv VI Probe technology. High power radio-frequency (RF) voltage and current sensors need to be accurately calibrated to a traceable standard. Calibrating to high accuracy can be the most challenging aspect of high power, voltage-current sensor (VI probe) manufacture. This is due to the many sources of error in any calibration process. If the calibration is performed accurately and correctly, then most errors can be characterized and removed.

Abstract

This technical note describes the theory and architecture behind Octiv VI Probe technology. The Octiv VI probe is an advanced RF voltage and current sensor, which can provide real-time information on complex loads. Real-time information the Octiv provides includes voltage, current, phase, power and impedance on all harmonics of a chosen frequency simultaneously, as well as transmission line parameters such as forward power, reflected power, standing wave ratio (SWR) and reflection coefficient. The Octiv sensor was designed to meet the need for post-match voltage and current measurements in RF excited plasma processes.

The Vertex Multi Sensor measures the ion energy distribution as a function of aspect ratio hitting a surface inside a plasma reactor from multiple locations to analyse the uniformity of ion interactions across a substrate.

Abstract

In this application note, we present a novel method which can be applied to a planar retarding field energy analyser (RFEA) for the measurement of ion angular distributions. Ion energy and angular ion distributions play a critical role in plasma assisted etching and conformal deposition processes. Ion impact at wider angles may be required for better step coverage in certain sputter deposition and ion implantation processes while large angle ion impact can be detrimental to anisotropic etch processes. In the early 80’s, Stenzel et al 1, 2 developed a directional RFEA where particles are geometrically filtered through a micro-capillary plate prior to energy analysis. The high aspect ratio (AR) of the holes/channels in the plate allowed them to select particles within a geometric acceptance angle. The Vertex RFEA design has a variable AR, controlled using a potential difference between two grids (see application note VE02). A variable AR controls the ion angular spread passing through the sensor for detection. The Vertex product produces a plot of ion energy distribution versus AR.

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About us

Impedans specialises in the delivery of high performance and high resolution plasma diagnostics solutions to customers in research and industry. Our products find applications in plasma process research and development, process monitoring and control, and manufacturing tool development in the semiconductor, surface coating, flat panel, thin film and solar sectors.

Impedans' products represent the next generation in plasma diagnostics technology, and coupled with our in-depth plasma knowledge and years of experience, our customers can be sure that they can fully characterise, optimise and monitor their plasma processes with confidence.